Guaranteed Healthcare

Family Forced to Sell Home and Leave Country to Get Healthcare 

“My husband, Bruce, and I never were able to obtain medical insurance that would cover my condition, a devastating and disabling genetic disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome—so we are having one massive estate sale, selling our home, and moving to Belgium, where I can get the care I need at a cost we can afford explains Barbara Calder of Colorado Springs, Colo.”

“Bruce had received insurance through his job, but they refused to cover me, saying that the plan didn’t cover genetic counseling. The insurance company eventually went broke, saying they hadn’t anticipated people getting older or using the insurance they had paid for.” 

“Every joint in my body is failing save my left hip. I have to tape my toes together at night when even the pressure of a blanket can cause them to dislocate. I live in constant pain, and get only partial relief with ibuprofen, the only medication I can afford without health insurance.”

“There are very few doctors in this country who understand my condition, and people who suffer from this disease usually go undiagnosed and eventually lose their insurance. My mother died of the same condition, though also undiagnosed at age 40, my 19-year-old daughter developed symptoms at age 15, and my 22- year-old son is beginning to experience problems.”

“I want health insurance companies to be abolished, because they aren't in the business to care for the sick. Their main function is to make profits, and the sick just get in their way. Imagine every person paying a percentage of their income into health services that would help all Americans? That is how many European Union (EU) countries do it,” Calder continued. “Most people we met in the EU on our trip last week were proud to pay into such a system, because it made their country healthier and better for all who lived there.”

Read stories like Barbara's every day through November 4 at www.guaranteedhealthcare.org

-----------------------

Sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

Un-payable medical bills. Skyrocketing premiums and other out-of-pocket charges. Insurance companies refusing to pay for needed medical care, rejecting policies to people with prior conditions, and dumping people when they get sick. 48 million uninsured Americans. Only one healthcare reform will address all these problems and cure our broken healthcare system. That's why America's nurses support a single-payer, expanded and improved Medicare for all, as in HR 676 which has 92 Congressional co-sponsors, more than any other health reform bill. HR 676 guarantees health coverage for everyone, assures choice of physician and hospital, controls costs, slashes administrative waste, and returns care decisions to patients and doctors, not insurance companies. For more information: Liz Jacobs, RN,  510-273-2232